TETLEY USES FACEBOOK TO CONNECT CONSUMERS WITH TEA PRODUCERS
Tetley, the world's second largest tea brand has today launched an innovative initiative, facilitated by Facebook. It will allow consumers to communicate directly with tea producing communities who are working towards gaining Rainforest Alliance Certified™ certification for their farms.
The Farmers First Hand initiative is all about ‘connection through conversation’. It will initially feature the Lujeri tea estate in Malawi, and kicks off the launch of the first Tetley packs to carry the Rainforest Alliance green frog seal. Tea from Rainforest Alliance CertifiedTM farms will be in Tetley packs on UK supermarket shelves in April followed by a Canadian launch in the summer and US, Australia and mainland Europe launches from 2012. The initiative will gradually expand to tea estates in other countries.
Tea farmers and estate workers will use phones and cameras provided by Tetley to share what they are doing. They will upload text messages, photographs and video clips to the Facebook page, allowing consumers to experience the estate’s journey towards certification as it happens, and get a sense of day to day life on a tea estate. Consumers will be able to communicate directly with the tea workers and each other via the Facebook page and add their comments.
Lucy Denny, Global Marketing Manager for the Tetley brand said:
“We want Tetley tea drinkers to enjoy their favourite cuppa knowing that by choosing it they have helped to protect the environment on tea estates and provide sustainable livelihoods for the people there. What better way to achieve this than by allowing them to personally connect with people on the estates and see and hear their story first hand.”
Responding to the Farmers First Hand campaign, Tensie Whelan, president of the Rainforest Alliance said:
"From the outset of the Rainforest Alliance and Tetley collaboration, both parties challenged themselves to come up with a new and exciting campaign that would increase people's understanding of how our work has a positive and enduring impact on tea farmers. I think with Farmers First Hand we have risen to the challenge."
For further information please contact
For Tetley:
Vanessa Shaw on 020 8338 4401, 07714 844531 or vanessa.shaw@tetley.co.uk
For Rainforest Alliance:
Christina Cullen on 07985 440 238 or christina@themessagehub.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. You can visit the facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/Farmersfirsthand
2. Tetley remain active members of the Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP), whose existing programme and collaboration with the Rainforest Alliance will help facilitate the launch of Tetley certified products.
About Tetley
Tetley is a growing global tea brand with a presence in 70 countries around the world. It is the market leader in the UK and Canada and in total 75 million cups of Tetley tea a day are drunk worldwide. For more information please visit www.tetley.com
About Tata Global Beverages
Tata Global Beverages comprises a number of major beverage brands including Tetley, Tata Tea, Good Earth, Eight O’Clock Coffee and Himalayan. The group employs 2,920 employees worldwide and has its corporate headquarters in the UK. The Tetley Group was purchased by Tata Tea in 2000. For more information on the Tata Global Beverages brands please visit www.tataglobalbeverages.com
About Rainforest Alliance
The Rainforest Alliance is an internationally-focused, not-for-profit organisation that was established in the USA in 1987. The organisation works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behaviour. To date, the Rainforest Alliance has helped conserve the water, soil and biodiversity of more than 50 million hectares of forest and farmland in 68 countries and improved the lives of more than 2 million workers and their families.
The Rainforest Alliance certification programme means that farms have to meet the environmental, social and economic standards of the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN). The SAN standards cover ecosystem conservation, worker rights and safety, wildlife protection, water and soil conservation, agrochemical reduction, decent housing, and legal wages and contracts for workers.
For more information please visit www.rainforest-alliance.org